Misjudged Crimes
by Bazzano03
Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing and ran away, will they be able to get him to come back or will he forgive the accusers on his own.
1. Chapter 1: The Truth and the Letter

**Misjudged Crimes**

**Characters: Nat, Dan, Jo, Fritz and Tommy**

**Time-line: After they get the letter of confession from Jack.**

**Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing when the truth came out after Dan got his anger out of him and ran away, will they be able to find him or will he come back on his own.**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Little Men, the story belonge to me, everything else belonge to Louisa May Alcott.**

**Warning: 'I'm basing this story off what happened at the point they got the truth in the movie, and making his reaction stronger than his just forgiving them for accusing him of theft, so this is going to show the parts of his personality that were hidden away after the argument with Dan and being accused yet again of something he wouldn't do, while Dan's personality has taken on the older brother edge and Nan has unofficially become his girlfriend.**

**Also this shows how he saw Jo and Fritz and what he was too afraid to say, and their decision to keep them both as adoptive sons before the holidays came and her brother-in-law died, so this is going to show what happened between those points and how the boys had found a new home from that point.**

**Chapter 1: The Truth Comes Out**

Everyone was in shock from what they just heard from their headmaster, Frederick, Fritz, Bhear, because they finally got the truth that one of their own had framed a fellow friend and class-mate of stealing, while Nat Blake felt his feelings shift from anger to pain as he thought to himself, 'This is like losing papa, I lost my parents, my best friend takes off on me, and I get in trouble for something I never would have done and now this, I can't take this any more. He's right, they don't understand us, and I'm not staying where someone who is quick to judge tries to put the blame on me for something I would never do.' he thought as he watched his brother get his anger out of him in the only he could then and they headed back to the house.

That night after everyone was a sleep, he packed a small bag, wrote a letter to his best friend and sat it at the end of the bed and quietly left the room he shared with the other boys and went out through the front door, as he got to the gates he looked at the house one last time and thought over where he wanted to go, before heading in that direction.

The next morning Dan woke up to find his friends' bed empty and then looked at the foot of his and saw a letter sitting there and felt fear take hold. 'Oh no, he didn't, friend please, you didn't leave us, where ever you went to I'll find you brother, I swear I'll find you.' he thought to himself as he quickly grabbed his nightgown, and cane and left the room and headed downstairs to find his headmaster and adoptive mother and found them both in the Bhears study. "Papa Bhear, Nat is gone, and I found this sitting on my bed when I woke up this morning." Dan said and Fritz stood up at that and moved over to him to read the letter his apprentice wrote and felt fear take hold at what it said.

"Fritz, what does it say?" Jo asked him and he read it out loud. "After being accused of something I would not do, I've decided to leave this place I once called home, Dan has found where he needs to be, but this only made it more clear that you accepted his choice of lying as I once did after breaking Tommys eggs not long after my arrival and the stories I told of us as a duo before you reprimanded me for that, you will not see me again from now on. Take care of my brother for me. Nat." he read and they exchanged concerned looks at that letter.

"We have got to find him Fritz." she said and he nodded as Dan thought it over before he realized where his brother would have gone. " Mama Bhear, where did you find us before you took us in?" he asked and she looked at him. "John found both of you at the market place in Boston, why do you ask?" she asked and he explained his thoughts on the subject. "I think he went back, but in this weather he could get sick and if he wound up with same injury I did, he won't get far, aside from that there are men who take urchin boys in and turn them into criminels, Nat's pain is focused on the loss of his father and your not trusting him, and both together could turn him into criminal, we have to get him back, before he comes across the man who started this or those parasites do something." he said and they both nodded.

"Alright, Dan I want you to wake the others up, we're calling a meeting and letting them know about this, Jo send a message to the Brooks and the Lawrence's, we need to get the entire family involved to find him." Fritz said and they both nodded as Dan headed upstairs to wake everyone up and they all came down stairs. "What is it Aunt Jo?" her niece, Daisy, asked and she went into that. "Due to the amount of mistrust and accusations going on in this house, Nat has ran away and left a letter and we need to find him and fast." she said and Nan answered that. "Mama Bhear, may I take a look at it?" she asked and Jo nodded.

As she read through it, Demi, Daisy and Emil crowded around her to read it as well, and felt their anger rising, "I can't believe this, why would he do that?" Demi asked and she sighed, already knowing the reason her friend left, and why she never left his side since she met him. "What did you all consider him when he got accused last week, before Jack admitted it?" she asked him and he immediately what she was saying. "We were acting like he had just arrived and Dan's arrival brought back the prejudice of life outside our own square." he said and she nodded.

"You and the others had a place to belong, he didn't and when he thought he found it, you turn on him. The truth is, by acting the way you did you brought back the pain of his father's death and everything he once had before he came here, he told me his mother passed when he was seven, and he only had his father with him, till he found Dan and then barely six months before he got here, his father got sick and died, leaving him an orphan."

"After your father offered him a chance to come here, he thought he found a new home and family and was beginning to adjust, and was starting to think of Mama and Papa Bhear as adoptive parents, and you all as brothers and sisters, till Jack destroyed that by stealing Tommys money, and in doing so caused you to turn against him." she said and the six boys exchanged looks of shock as she looked at Tommy with a very stern look on her face.

"Did he tell you that Nan?" Daisy asked and she shook her head. "No he didn't, but he didn't need to, out of the entire group, there are only two people who understand him in that way." she said and Emil asked the next one. "Who exactly?" he asked her and Dan answered that.

"Nan and me, Nan what was your background before we found each other?" he asked and she went into that. "My father passed away six months ago, and my mother wanted me to come here, so I could prepare for life when the time came, he didn't have to tell me what he was feeling about his parents I can understand what he's feeling, because I felt the same after my father passed. What about you?" she asked and he answered that gently.

"My parents died in a fire when I was ten and I was living as a street urchin for two years when I found him, I know what he's feeling, because it felt like someone stabbed me in the heart when his father died, because he took me in, and we were on our own after that looking for a place to start over and finally found it here, before things started getting out of control." he said and she nodded as Jo felt her heart turn to ice at that information. 'Oh my, it's no wonder they connected so fast, they all share the same parental background, I'm not letting my boys go, I'm going to get my son back.' she thought as Fritz thought the same thing.

"This is the reason you were scared to let us in Dan?" she asked and he nodded. "Yes and it's the same for him now, he was just beginning to adjust and see you as his parents before Jack caused this and Tommy made it worse, by getting you to think he'd do that. The truth is out of the two of us, he'd never steal from anyone and the day we got separated, I was the one who took that man's money, if it hadn't been for that he wouldn't have healed so fast when you took us in and unofficially adopted us." he said and they both nodded as they got it.

"Nat left us, because of Tommys accusations and everyone's suspicions of him being the thief, whose fault is this really, he said repeatedly he was not the thief and no one believed him, Dan stood up for him and you accepted that, before Jack left yesterday and now the pain and anger of this has resulted in his leaving." Nan said angrily and they nodded.

"Tommy, this is your fault, if you had just stopped jumping ahead and jumping to conclusions he wouldn't have done this." Demi added and he looked at him. "Out of everyone, he was the only one who knew where I hid my case." he said and Dan turned to him at that. "I did as well, and yet you accused the person who was your partner of being a thief, as I said the night before Jack left, I was also a street urchin with a penchant for stealing and he grew up with a father who loved him. Prior to his arrival I was the one who stole that man's money, before Demi and Daisys father offered him a chance for a new life and family."

"You knew my background when I got here before I reformed and he had been here longer than I have and he was beginning to feel like he'd found a home, before you accused him of thievery and, in doing so, turned the entire household against him, before I stood up for him and Jack admitted it, and now this pain and anger could turn him into a criminal and possibly kill him if he gets sick in this weather. I'm not losing my brother, because of your mistakes, when we find him, you're staying away from him, understand." Dan said to him sternly and Franz quickly ended the fight. "Alright that's enough boys, we need to focus." he said gently.

"Alright, it's fifty miles from here to Boston, and if he got tired he could have fallen asleep in a barn or shed, but with the weather like it is, he'd have to light a fire to keep warm, so we better search the area around the property and then expand it further as time goes on." Dan said and he nodded in agreement to that as Fritz took over. "Alright, Dan you know him best, what direction would he go if he left Plumfield?" he asked and he thought about it.

"Northeast, he's taking the route I took to get here, and is following the river to do it, if we head in that direction we could find him." Dan said and he nodded as he looked at the boys. "Nan, Daisy, boys I want you to search that area, Dan are you up to this, you're still mending?" he asked and Dan nodded in answer to that. " Yes Papa Bhear, I am, I'm doing whatever is needed to get my brother back." he said and they nodded gently to that.

"Alright let's get to it, Nan you're with Dan, Daisy you are with your brother and boys you're pairing off and stick together, the last thing we need is another sprained ankle or worse here, Silas, I want you to search the woods, because he could have gone in that direction and there are a bunch of wild wolves out there, and he could be in trouble." he said and they all nodded as they quickly got ready to do a search for their missing friend, brother and son.

"Hold on baby, I'm coming." Jo thought to herself as she looked at Dan who had the same look on his face. "Don't worry brother, we'll fix this, I'm bringing you home." he thought to himself as he nodded to his adopted sister who had the same look and they left and started the search for the missing member of their family.


	2. Chapter 2: Staring the Search

**Misjudged Crimes**

**Characters: Nat, Dan, Jo, Fritz and Tommy**

**Time-line: After they get the letter of confession from Jack.**

**Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing when the truth came out after Dan got his anger out of him and ran away, will they be able to find him or will he come back on his own.**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Little Men, the story belonge to me, everything else belonge to Louisa May Alcott.**

**Chapter 2: The Search**

After getting that information from the duo, Jo knew she was going to have to get her brothers-in-law involved in the search, as she thought it over she heard Fritz come into the room. "Honey, I know you're worried abut him, but we'll find him." he said and she sighed.

"His behavior over the last week made it clear he was not the thief, why didn't I listen to what my heart was telling me?" she asked and he answered with a sigh. "We both were dealing with our current argument over Dan, and his previous behavior, I was too prejudiced to let go and it hurt him, I didn't know he saw me or us as adoptive parents after we took them in. No matter what now, I'm getting our 'son' back." he said and she nodded in agreement as she got to work on the letter she was writing to John then to let him know.

'John, I have grave news, do to the accusations of being accused of theft, Nat has run away, we need your help to find him, we think he's headed back to Boston if you could search there we'd be grateful, let us know of your progress, Jo.' she wrote and then putit in an envelope, before mailing it out as she wrote the same message to Laurie and did it again.

"Mama Bhear, there is something I didn't tell you before." Dan said as he came over to her and she looked at him. "What is it honey?" she asked and he explained that. "About a month or so before we got separated he came down with the flu, and from not eating, his system took a serious blow to it, he also tore a ligament three months previous to that, and in this kind of weather it could cause him to collapse from the cold." he said and she nodded, feeling her concern growing with every word.

'Dear God, Lord please, I lost my baby sister, I can't lose him too, I can't deal with another case of Scarlett fever, please, watch over him.' she thought as she answered him. "Thank you for the information." she said and he nodded. "Will you be able to handle whatever injury he has when we find him?" he asked and she nodded. "Yes, I've had medical training, when or if one of you had an injury I took care of you till you were completely healed." she said and he nodded as Nan ran into the room then.

"Time to start our search Dan, Mama Bhear, Daisy and Demi found his trail leading past the river, his direction is leading him straight to Boston, I also found the pouch that Tommy kept his money in and it was hidden in the barn this entire time." she said and Jo nodded. Before she could say anything Tommy came into the room then. "Tommy you can stop your suspicions now, I found that pouch you kept your money in." Nan said to him and handed it over to him. "It's been hidden in the barn the whole time, if you had just bothered to check where, you wouldn't have caused him to make this choice." Dan said to him. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions." he said and Jo answered that sternly.

"You remember my conscious book, and what we've tried to work on in your case Thomas, you've finally gone too far here, whatever happens you have to live with the consequences of your actions, when we find him you are going to have to make it up to him, but till then I really want you to think of the people you've hurt by your jumping to conclusions without any evidence." she said to him and he nodded sadly and left.

"Conscious book, was that the book Nat told me about?" Dan asked and she nodded. "I kept a book and had a page for each of you boys, that way we could document your behavior and then work on those problems, your brother fixed his, but Tommy has continually forgotten what he's been working on, he's has a jump forward attitude and doesn't stop to think of the consequences first before he does it. He over reacted to Nat accidently bumping into him and breaking his eggs, about a month before you got here, and Nat got into trouble for that."

"I've gone over this time and time again with him, but he keeps doing it, Nat was just beginning to adjust and he offered him a chance to be partners before you got here, but he apparently ignored the fact that that Nat was not the type to steal." she said and they both nodded. "So he snubs Nat for looking sad and mistakes it for guilt, and immediately thinks he stole his money, when you got a former street urchin living here, and one who was constantly breaking the rules, before reforming and finding a place to belong at last." Dan said and she nodded as Nan summed up what Jo told them about Tommys faults and the book.

"So he was working on not jumping to conclusions and over-reactions to small things, how long has he been here?" Nan asked and she explained that. "A little over a year now, that conscious book was designed to help your brothers in fixing their faults, you girls were doing fine, but the boys take more time to fix those faults, Dan, what was the reason for the breaking of rules?" Jo asked and he sighed as he answered her to explain it.

"I spent close to three years as a street urchin, it's not easy to reform to rules again when you're around adults who spend their time doing that type of stuff, my father's reactions were what Papa Bhear's were like when he was still alive, and after I met Nat, Papa Blake filled in the holes that my parents deaths tore into my heart, after eight months with him filling in that position, him getting sick and dying did just as much damage to me as it did to Nat."

"We grew up the way you did Mama Bhear, my father worked as a baker, but we all had to pitch in, so I started doing magic tricks to earn a bit of extra money and my mother was like grandmother March, she volunteered in the orphanage, but between me and my father we made enough to live on." he said and she nodded as she got what he was saying.

"What about Nat?" she asked and he explained that. "Papa Blake was a harvester at the farm he worked at, so after a bit of time Nat and I decided to join together as a duo and did performances to earn some extra money, but after the incident in the marketplace his violin was destroyed, and I knew what that meant to him, because that violin belonged to his father, before he died. Those stories he told the others were partially true, but he was reminiscing of when the three of us were still together." he said and she nodded gently as she got what he was really telling her now. "My childhood was hard, my father was sent to the war when I was seventeen and we all had to pitch in to carry on while was gone, and I took a job as my great aunt's companion, so I understand perfectly what you're telling me here honey." she said and he nodded as he thought over a way to handle Nat's insecurity of returning to their adoptive family so he could heal from losing his father, because his little brother needed them.

"Nan what about you, what was your childhood like, before you came here?" she asked and Nan explain ed that. "My childhood was the same as theirs, I know you think of me as a younger version of you, and you're right, it was really close to what yours was like, if I had a guess here, I think that Nat and I are like you and Papa Bhear, if we got together when we grew up, but nearly everything matched up to their childhood and yours, my father died of pneumonia eight months ago, because he spent too much time in the cold and got hurt."

"My mother was working full time to feed us, but she thought it would be easier on me with a change of scenery and decided I should start school here, because she knows your entire background from that book you wrote, and decided it was best if I stayed here, to heal from that emotionally. Our connection is stronger than simply being friends we understand each other perfectly, and we knew that we were more than just a duo, but were waiting for our third to come back." Nan said and Jo nodded as Dan went into his idea for their trio then.

"Mama Bhear, I have an idea here of a way to keep this from happening twice." Dan said quickly and she looked at him gently. "What do you have in mind?" she asked and Nan smiled, as she got what he was thinking. "How many chickens do you have in the barn?" she asked and Jo answered that. "We've got twenty." she said and he nodded. "My idea is the three of us start our own egg selling business, as a group trio and partners, out of the ten in Plumfield, he's closest to the two of us now, we're his best friends, and if we start our own business he won't have to worry about those accusations ever again." he said and she nodded with a gentle smile at that idea.

"You think it'll work Dan?" she asked and he nodded. "Tommy's snubbed him one too many times, and out of us the only ones who wouldn't over-react would be us, his bond with me is too strong for that, and he's reached the point of turning into her boyfriend in her case, if we started our own business, our bonds would remain intact no matter what." Dan said and she nodded as she got what he was saying.

"Alright you can use the other hens for that. I noticed how you boys are with Teddy, did he have a baby brother?" she asked and he nodded sadly. "Yes, he died a year or so before we ran into each other, Scarlett fever, it hit him hard, first Mama Blake and then Jamie. He had his life destroyed before you took us in, and was trying to bury the pain, but everything that had gone over the last four or so months brought it back. Once we find him, I think he'll be able to heal given time, but we have to make sure this doesn't happen again." he said and she nodded quickly as she looked at Nan gently then.

"Thank you Nan, could you get Papa Bhear for me, I need to talk to him." she said and Nan nodded as he looked at her. "Was that the first time Tommy jumped to conclusions?" he asked and she shook her head as Franz came in. "No, he overreacted when Nat bumped into him, two months before you got here, Nat was trying to explain himself and he started throwing accusations at him, because he was carrying a batch of eggs with him and dropped them." Franz said and he nodded.

"My brother is sensitive to something like this, just before the accusation of theft, we got into a fight, because I thought he didn't need me any more, since when it came to him I got overly protective, he's more like his mother at times and tries to follow the rules. Truthfully I was getting jealous of the fact that he was able to be around them so easily, but it didn't hit hit me then that he still needed me, despite the fact he had all of you now, before the argument lead to him leaving the barn abruptly when Tommy came in."

"I think Tommy mistook his pain over our argument for guilt and immediately set the blame on him when he checked out his money case." Dan said and she nodded as Franz looked at him. "He was upset over your argument, alright hang on I'm getting Tommy back in here to hear the truth of what went on that morning." Franz said and they both nodded as she looked at him gently. "You weren't ready to let us in at the time if you were getting jealous at the time honey?" she asked and he nodded gently.

"It wasn't till I saw the rabbits foot that I gave him, that I realized that he needed me as his big brother no matter what happened between us and that caused me to stand up for him that night, what I said was partially true, I did it, but I was trying to make up for the fact that my actions got him in trouble three months ago when you found us." he said and she nodded, before she could answer him Franz came in with Tommy in tow.

"Alright, Dan tell him the truth of what happened that morning." Franz said to him and he nodded, but before he could Fritz came in with Nan right behind him then. "What is this about Dan?" he asked and he explained that. "I was going to explain the reason for the pained look on his face just before the accusations started." Dan said and he nodded as he explained things to him. "The reason for that is because we had a fight that morning, at the time I wasn't ready to accept the fact I, or rather we, found a home finally and thought he didn't need me watching out for him, and we had an argument, before I left and he was standing by the window, my guess is because he was thinking over our fight when Tommy came into the barn and he left, because he didn't want to talk to anyone then." he said and Fritz nodded as he looked at Tommy sternly.

"Tommy this doesn't match up to what you told me, was it a lie or not?" he asked with a very stern tone in his voice and he tried to answer that. "He was standing there looking like he'd done it, I didn't that realize he was upset over that fight." Tommy said and he nodded. "You've over-reacted several times in the last year and a half to small things, but you've snubbed him twice in two months and he's finally had enough of it, he grew up outside of your lifestyle, he was from a lower monetary background, and had to work for a living, but he kept his innocence and sensitivity, you've grown greedy and have jumped to conclusions and it's not fair to him, because he's been suffering the repeated pains of losing family members over the four years and you haven't and is still suffering those pains now, out of lack of trust."

"What is your childhood background?" Fritz asked and he answered that. "My father was a businessman and I grew up in how to learn how to do business." Tommy said and Dan nodded as he answered that. "You grew up with a well to do family, we: Nat, Nan and I, didn't Tommy, his father was a farmer, mine was a low income baker, we had to work at putting food on the table, that story he told you four months was a reminscinse, not a suggestion."

"You snubbed the one person least likely to still from you, especially since you know what I am, what I used to be, I admit had I not changed I would have done it, I knew where you hid it, but I left it alone, the look on his face was do to our fight, not guilt, and if you'd bothered to give him time to explain things you would know this. You boys grew up in privileged, well to do families, while Nat and I had to work to take care of ourselves, and on top of that we both spent a few months on the street learning how to live as adults, it's not easy in the real world. When he was telling you that story of us as a duo, earning money, by being street performers, it was the last good memory he had before his father passed and we were separated." Dan said to him and Fritz looked at him gently, now seeing the changes that had come in him.

"Why didn't you consider me when you did that last week?" Dan asked him and he looked down. "He was my partner in that, I thought he was trying to steal my half of the money we earned when we were working." Tommy said and Dan nodded as he answered that. "Compared to me, he had a clean record, he's not the type to steal and he had fixed his flaws when he got here, we grew up on the edge of becoming criminals, but we didn't, you were not raised the way we were, you said your father was a businessman what did he do for a living?" Dan asked and Tommy sighed as he answered him in that.

"My father worked as marketer, and ran a banking house, he taught me in how to do business." Tommy said and Nan asked the next one. "Did he teach you innocent till proven guilty, because there was no reason to blame him till you had proof, which you didn't you could have blamed any of the others or even me and Daisy, but you didn't, you blamed your partner, who was still dealing with the pain of losing a loved one." she said and Dan added on to her statement. "You have your parents, be it surrogate or not, he and I don't, we lost our parents, and we had to learn to live and think on our feet, it's not fair to simply blame someone you don't know or understand, because that prejudice can do a lot of damage that takes time to heal from." Dan said to him sternly.

"Tommy, while you, Emil, the twins and the other boys had parents to raise you and grew up in privileged homes, Nat had spent several months as an orphan and street urchin, trying to survive in a dangerous world, he had to work to feed himself, and suddenly reforming to a life in a new home with adults that remind you of what you lost is hard, and having someone treat you blindly for something you would not do is not fair, especially when you are the partner to that person, and was sharing the money in that business at the time as well." Fritz said and made a decision to handle it, in how to deal with his behavior as he looked him sternly.

"I'm sorry to say this, but your egg selling is suspended for two months, you are going to have to work at earning it back, but until then I suggest you think about the consequences of your jumping to conclusions." he said sternly and Tommy nodded with a sad look on his face as he left the room and Fritz turned to Dan to ask the next one.

"Those stories were really memories of when his father was alive?" Franz asked and Dan nodded. "Yes, after we found each other I started working as a second farmer when his father brought the harvest to the marketplace, and we decided to become street performancers, because a farm harvester doesn't make that much, so we decided to pitch in as well to care for the three of us, and that got me on the road of emotional recovery from the deaths of my family, I reformed then, but after he died I had a relapse, and fell back on my old ways."

"After getting here, I was struggling to reform, till finally the fire changed things completely, while I was at Mr. Page's, I realized I found where I belonged and came back, since I knew that it meant I could start over and reform from what my life was like before I arrived."

"Nat is in the same position, he was healing, though he still thought about Papa Blake, and thought he found a place to start over, you gave him that, in fact, you were starting to heal up the pain of the loss of his family. Mama Blake died when he was seven and his little brother died of Scarlet fever barely eight-teen months later after that, so that just left his father, til we met and we became each other's life line, the last two years were we were working as street performers to feed the three of us, before Papa Blake got sick and we tried to keep going, but by that point things were falling apart and he died, after that happened, he started falling apart, and I had to work at keeping him going, and I relapsed a second time."

"The day your brother-in-law found us he had gone two months without eating anything and had lost a lot of weight, if he had told you about that violin, it belonged to his father, since he was also a musician, the separation gave us enough time for him to start healing, before things started getting out of control." Dan said and Fritz nodded as Nan added on to it.

"Jack wasn't willing to let go of his anger after the gambling incident, and started verbally bashing Dan, till finally Nat lost control of his anger and left, before I got him to open up to me, and he said that, separated or not, that he still needed Dan no matter what happened between you guys. The day before the accusations started I saw him watching Tommy as he pulled out the money box and then put it back, that night I heard a squeak in the stairs in the hall and saw him leave the boys bedroom, and knew something was up, but didn't know what he had done till the accusations started." she said and the three all nodded angrily.

"That letter said he was trying to put the blame on me, evidently he was trying to get me in trouble for something I stopped doing, I've changed since I've met you, and Mama and Papa Bhear, in fact I completely reformed now, and he still won't see me as anything, but what I used to be." Dan said and she nodded as Franz asked the next one. "So he was angry that you were back and decided to do something to make it seem like you never changed, only it backfired and Nat got in trouble and it tore apart the emotional progress he was making the last three months, and now we have to find him, before his grief reaches the point some pick pocket drags him into a world of crime." he asked and Dan nodded gently.

"If you read Oliver Twist, that's what it is like to be a street urchin, to survive we sometimes resorted to being pick pockets, but if we get taken in, we learn a trade and if we're lucky we find homes, and completely reform, we both used to have families, and we were safely in doors till our lives suddenly shifted and we found a home at last." he said and they nodded.

"So you were both trying to survive and the day my brother-in-law came into your life, you had just pickpocketed that man to get food into your brother, but he blows the whistle, you get separated and he blames Nat, before John offers an alternative to your version of jail, and we take over and start healing the damage his family's passing had done to him, before the first test of trust happens and Tommy makes the first mistake."

"You than spend two more months like that before arriving and start on a bad path, before our reactions to your behavior start dragging your memories of your family to the surface, the fire being the big one, and we send you to Mr. Paige, before you decide to come back, barely five days later Jack comes up with a plan to make it seem like, to Mama Bhear and me, that you never changed and steals from Tommy, except his plan backfires and Tommy blames Nat for it, and for the next week his feelings of pain and anger start rising till finally you stand up for him and Jack finally admits it, and you finally get your anger over your parents and Nat's father's passing by finally taming Charlie and draining it completely. Your brother, after dealing with the accusations for the last ten days, is in so much pain that it causes him to retreat into himself, and Jack leaves out of guilt not knowing he made Nat even worse emotionally, making him think he doesn't have a home here, though he does."

"And this finally results in him deciding he had enough and runs away and now we have to find him before he becomes a pickpocket or worse. Alright I'm sending a message to Jacks parents to let them know of what their son's decisions have caused here." Fritz said and they nodded.

"You said you lost your parents, is that why you were scared to let us in." Jo said and he nodded. "Honestly I was afraid that if I let you in I'd lose you as well, with Nat I had no brothers till I met him, but I was scared of finding someone I could call a parent, because losing one set was hard, I couldn't take losing another, on top of that, my father was a lot like Papas Blake and Bhear, and you reminded me of my mother, I was trying to hold back the pain when I got defensive when I was around you, and I wasn't ready to admit that I thought of you as parents, even though I could see that you were exactly what I wanted as parents."

"I spent two years trying to live like an adult, and thought I could make it work till I found them and it brought back the need for my parents, after Papa Blake died I was back at where I started, and tried to hide my emotions till we got separated and I came here, you both set the rules and as much as I tried to listen, it only brought back the pain and I started breaking them, after leaving Mr, Paige I realized that I found a home here, and came back, because I knew this is where I belonged finally, and with my brother here I was happy here."

"Nan is in the same position, with the fact that they both lost their fathers, losing Papa Bhear would be even worse, and if he lost you it would kill him, but that's the reason why we connected so quickly after we got to know each other, in the case of her and me." he said and she nodded, before she could say anything Fritz answered that and he got what Dan was saying. "I reminded you of your father?" he asked and Dan nodded.

"Yes papa, my father was a lot like you when it came to rules, and he took it seriously when it came to my safety, your reaction the night of the boxing match was what he would have done, and I realized that if I lost you it would kill me." he said and Fritz nodded gently. "I understand son, so Nat sees us as his parents now and it's the same for you, we need to get your brother back, and after that we're raising both of you from here on out." he said and pulled him into a hug and Dan closed his eyes, feeling his heart start to heal at the connection. 'I love you papa.' he thought softly.

"Fritz, we have another concern here in the case if his physical health." she said and he nodded. "What is it?" he asked and Dan answered that question. "He came down with the flu about a month before we got separated, and do to his father's death he was starving himself, if he comes down with something it could close to three weeks to recover from it and he tore a ligament two months prior to that, which explains the slight limp you've noticed if he walking, and in this weather it could cause him to collapse from the strain on his leg." he said and he nodded.

"Alright, I'm sending that message to Damian Ford and getting him and Jack back up here, Nan, boys, you start your search now." Fritz said and they nodded and got started. The next day Jack and his parents, Damian and Mary Ford, arrived and he lead them into the sitting room. "Alright Professor Bhear, what is this about?" Mary asked him. "Did Jack hold anything back of the reason he left Plumfield?" Jo asked and they both nodded in answer to that.

"Yes, Jonathan what happened to make you decide to come home in the first place?" Damian asked and before he could answer that Dan came into the room. "I'm the reason for that, his anger over my accidently getting them in trouble two months ago resulted in his trying to frame me for stealing a fellow students money, but his plan backfired and my brother was blamed for the crime." Dan said and they both nodded. "This is serious if you sent that message to us, what has happened?" Damian asked and Dan explained that. "Do to the accusations, my brother has run away from Plumfield. Jack were you aware of the real reason I stood up for him, let alone the fact that Tom would over react or even the consequences of those actions and where they would lead out of pain?" he asked and Jack shook his head.

"Nat is my adoptive younger brother, the stories he told you and the others was a reminiscing of when his father was still alive, the truth is we were both orphaned, because our parents were gone, and when we came here we had a chance to start over, I was reforming when you tried to frame me, and he was healing emotionally from his father dying, by doing what you did you tore apart his progress, and some real criminal could easily take advantage of this and turn him into a criminal." Dan said and Jacks face paled at that, he never considered any of that when he decided to get Dan in trouble.

"Nat's your adoptive brother?" Jack repeated and he nodded. "Yes, his father took me in after I met them, that was the reason for his reaction when you were verbally bashing me, compared to you guys, I was there when he needed support, no matter what happened between us, you turned the entire household against him and this destroyed the emotional progress he was making when his father died." Dan said and turned to Damian and Mary.

"What do you do for a living Mr. Ford?" Dan asked and he gently answered that. "I'm a banker, why do you ask?" Damian asked him and Dan told him the truth. "Nat and I came from low income families, my father was a baker, and my adoptive father was a farming harvester, we had to work at putting food on the table, while your son was from a well brought up home, we, after our parents died, had to resort to being street performers to earn money to feed ourselves, in the life of a street urchin you have to work to feed yourself in a dangerous world, like in Oliver Twist, most orphans get taken in by gangsters or criminals, others find homes with good people, and that is where the problem lies now."

"Street urchins are the same way, for most we have to live by our wits and whatever talent we have, mine was I used to work as horse groom, if you saw the horse in the corral and he was gently relaxed I was the reason for that, prior to that I was an apprentice baker to my father and l learned how to bake and sell the product's we made to others."

"While, in his case, he was a farmer, and his father was the only family we had, once he took me in at the time, but once you become a street urchin, life gets harder, you learn to live the way adults do, and at times it leads to life getting dangerous, some of us if they get too used it and start enjoying it, they start breaking the law and they start becoming pick-pockets, for the ones who grew up with families prior to that we use the skills we learned by our parents, while others become apprentices and learn a trade, and their employers, if they are kind people give them a place to stay, and some, if they're lucky, find homes with the people who took them on as apprentices, and those people become adoptive parents to them."

"I spent two years as a street urchin, and was trying to survive, and in my case I was heading in that direction of almost winding up as a criminal before I met and found my brother, and found a home, and then it happened again here, and Jack started seeing him as someone he could relate to, while in my case I was nothing but a parasite, a street urchin, and it stayed that way no matter what after I came back here I was nothing to him but that, no matter what I used to be no matter what I said or tried to do."

"After the gambling incident and my return, Jack didn't see me as anything but what I once was, and tried to frame me for doing something I no longer did, and it backfired, Tommy, our class-mate, immediately pointed the finger at my younger brother, and it turned the entire household against him. After a week, I decided enough was enough and stood up for him and Jack left a letter to the Bhears saying he did it and went home, Nat's feelings were so hurt that he ran away and left me a message when he did it, and in his current physical condition if he gets sick or hurt it could take a month to heal from it." Dan said and Damian nodded.

"I've run into kids like you and did whatever I could to help, because I used to be the same way when I was younger, my father was at the war and since I was the oldest boy in the family I had to get a job to feed my family, I was the man of the house and it was hard. So I understand perfectly what you are saying Daniel. Jonathan, you remember the lessons I taught you, before you came here?" Damian asked and he nodded, feeling his heart sinking, his father taught him to respect all types of people regardless of their background and now, out of prejudice, he could kill his former classmate.

"Daniel, what is your last name?" Mary asked and he gently answered her. "Kean, my name is Daniel Peter Kean." he said and Damian's eyes widened. "Kean, as in Peter Kean of Kean baked goods?" he asked and Dan nodded. "Your entire family was generation after generation of bakers, I did business with your father at times before they died, if I'd known about this sooner, I would have paid you the back wages needed to take care of you, your brother, and Jack Blake, before he died and made sure you both came here for schooling." Damian said and Fritz looked at Dan than. "Son, if you want to start two trades here on the farm I'm fine with that." he said and Dan nodded as as Jacks eyes widened in shock at the information.

"Wait a minute, if that's the case then what happened to my father's business before my parents died in that fire?" Dan asked and Damian sighed as he answered that. "The bank manager before I took over took two thirds of the amount of mortgage of your house out of your parents business, which explains your statement of him being a low income baker, originally your family was like ours till that happened, but with what I know now about this I'm making sure you get that money back." he said and Dan nodded as he looked at Jack.

"So you were friends of my father?" he asked and Damian nodded. "I was, in fact if given the chance I would have raised you myself, if you hadn't found your brother two years ago, if anything, before that happened your family was like the Lawrences and mine, but that changed, and rich or no, you are the same boy I remembered then." Damian said and Dan nodded as his eyes narrowed at his wording of that as he looked at Jack with a stern look.

"Jack, up until that point my family was like yours, and though I lived as a street urchin at one point, it was no reason to judge by appearance, let alone try and frame me for something I did to make sure my brother was fed to keep his strength up before we met you. Some street urchins steal to feed themselves and their families, but when I came here I followed that rule, though I broke a few, but anger is not a reason to frame someone who is not from you social background, even though I used to be like you at one point."

"Most kids if they grew up like you and the other boys tried to act like they are middle class or secondary citizens, others tried to help the less lucky ones, as they say, one of the greatest gift is the gift of charity, my parents, though they were poor, we helped feed the ones like the kids you make toys for every Christmas. I was once like you and the others, but thanks to that fire I had to change who I am and became what you considered a street rat, before Papa Jack took me in, during that time, I saw anyone who acted the way you, or that man who started this, did and not worth the time becoming friends with, till I came here and changed forever."

"You ever wonder what the term green belly means, and why I kept calling you, Tommy, Emil and the other boys that?" Dan asked him sternly and he shook his head and Damian answered that question. "I can take a guess it means rich kid, right?" he asked and Dan nodded. "Yes that's exactly what it means, your children came from well to do families, but there are others who are aren't so lucky, like my family, his, Mama Bhear, before she started this school and became an author, Papa Bhear before they became teachers, we came from near destitute families and had to work at putting food on the table."

"One of my adoptive aunts did everything she could for the German family who lived maybe half a mile away from the March house, and they were people who were like the kids the Bhears made and gave toys and my family made bread, and the other baked goods for and gave free food to, but that is what the different sides, if they understand each other do, but others like Thomas Bennett, who is the man who started this, start acting like we are nothing but gutter rats, and that causes serious problems."

"Behavior like his, and the attitude Jack gave me after I came back here, it leads to the sides not getting along and discrimination, you probably heard about the outburst in the Boston marketplace, that man blamed him for my borrowing his money pouch to feed my brother. To put it gently that is exactly the person most street urchins consider green bellies or rich kids, your son, without giving me a chance to change who I was, labeled me trash out of anger and then tried to frame me for something I no longer did." Dan said and the Ford's nodded as Jo said what they were thinking then, as she looked at Jack sternly as she laid a hand on Dan's shoulder gently as Fritz stood behind them with his arms crossed sternly.

"Jack, when I accepted you for schooling here, I made it very clear that prejudice was not acceptable, stealing was not acceptable, lying was not acceptable. I also made it clear that in this house we treat each other the same way. Papa Bhear and I were your surrogate parents and you followed our rules, and that conscious book was meant to work through your faults and fix them, do you remember what we were working on in your case?" she asked and he nodded feeling his heart sink even lower, he'd been working on getting past his judgements of other people, but he hadn't done that with Dan and it had blown up in his face.

"In ten days you broke three rules and it results in doing damage that could take months, emotionally, to heal from. Dan, like Nat, was trying in a new place and reform to our ways, but it's not easy to do so when you have to learn to depend on yourself in the real world. I let you start your own businesses, to make it easier for when you reached adulthood, but you only gotten one life lesson out of it, and there are many more to be learned, and in a family everyone pitches in, while you are here, we are your parents, and you follow our rules, you are thirteen years old and Nat is younger than you are, he was also recovering emotionally from his father's death." she said and Mary's eyes narrowed. "What about his mother?" she asked and Dan sighed. "She passed away five years ago and his brother died of Scarlett fever barely eight-teen months later, he's an orphan, but that's about to be fixed now, because they're going to adopt and raise us themselves." Dan said and she nodded gently at that.

"With Dan's arrival, he had his big brother back and was healing up even more, since we had taken the place of his dead relatives, Dan made a mistake, it's true, but he changed, and is now determined to be like us, you need to let go and see him as more than what he used to be." Jo said to him gently with a stern tone in her voice and Damian looked at her.

"Jo do you have that message he left you, I want to see it." Damian said and she passed it to him and he read through it, feeling his anger rising. "Jonathan you are coming back here, and making it up to him for this. Until you help him to heal from what your decisions did to him, you are no longer welcome in our house. I never been more disappointed in you in my life, but this is going to far, young man, I know you were angry, but that is no excuse for getting a fellow student in trouble, when they are emotionally in pain." Mary said in disgust.

Before he could say anything John Brooke and Laurie arrived and Jo turned to them gently, "Anything John, Teddy?" she asked and John answered that. "I spoke to the officer that the situation started with and learned someone has moved into an old house, and I'm going to check it out, Jo, young man, that boy was in emotional turmoil when I found him and his brother, and if anything happens to him, I'm holding you responsible is that clear?" John said sternly and Jack nodded as he lowered his head.

"Dan I'm sorry'" he said and Dan looked at him gently. "I'm not the one who deserves your apology, I grew up in slightly destitute home you didn't, no matter what you think of me or him, there's no excuse for framing a fellow student of something they would not do. As I said I may have gotten you in trouble, but it was not a reason to try and frame me, let alone him for stealing, I broke a few rules I admit, the knife, the boxing and the gambling, as well as the magic tricks, they were things I learned when I was learning to live as adult, but that changed now." Dan said and he nodded as Damian looked at Dan.

"Daniel, I offer my most sincere apologies for what he has done, and I promise, I will help you find your brother." he said and Dan nodded gently. "Fritz in compensation for what has happened here, I'm doubling my payment in the tuition, he's staying here, till he's helped heal your son emotionally from what he did." Fritz nodded in answer to that. "I appreciate that, do you know Adam Bangs?" he asked and Damian nodded. "I do, you want to get him and Colleen here to let them know about this?" Damian asked and Fritz nodded as he answered that. "Yes, Tommy's been working on not over-reacting and jumping to conclusions and both boys together were what caused this, Tommys egg-selling is suspended till further notice."

"Jack, whatever trade you also had here is suspended till further notice as well and with the fact we have twenty rooms in this house you're both in-in school suspension, and you are sharing a room, because this judgement is unacceptable as is lying to get someone in trouble." Fritz said sternly and Jack nodded as he and his parents left the room and Dan turned to John. "You said someone moved into a house in that area, Uncle John?" Dan asked and he nodded, hiding a smile at his wording of his new title with the boys. "Yes, and going by the description I think we just found him, but I have to be sure first." John said and he nodded. "Papa, have you ever had to use that type of punishment with your previous pupils?" Dan asked and Fritz nodded gently as he explained that.

"A few times, they couldn't get their flaws under control and it results in situations similar to this, and if two caused the problem I decided to get them together." he said and they nodded as Laurie walked back into the room. "John, Jo, he's not there, my contact just sent a telegram." he said and they nodded. "Alright we're not giving up, well find him." she said and they nodded and separated to continue the search.


	3. Chapter 3: The Search Ends

**Misjudged Crimes**

**Characters: Nat, Dan, Jo, Fritz and Tommy**

**Time-line: After they get the letter of confession from Jack.**

**Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing when the truth came out after Dan got his anger out of him and ran away, will they be able to find him or will he come back on his own.**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Little Men, the story belonge to me, everything else belonge to Louisa May Alcott.**

**Warning: I'm basing this story off what happened at the point they got the truth in the movie, and making his reaction stronger than his just forgiving them for accusing him of theft, so this is going to show the parts of his personality that were hidden away after the argument with Dan and being accused yet again of something he wouldn't do, while Dan's personality has taken on the older brother edge and Nan has unofficially become his girlfriend.**

**Also this shows how he saw Jo and Fritz and what he was too afraid to say, and their decision to keep them both as adoptive sons before the holidays came and her brother-in-law died, so this is going to show what happened between those points and how the boys had found a new home from that point.**

**Chapter 3: The Search Ends**

After getting that information out to her, and no luck on the search it was a week later when Dan went with John and Nan to start the search as they were twenty miles away from the house and went to a spot that looked unsettled and quickly called. "Uncle John I found something?" he shouted and they came running up. "What is it Danny..., is that..., oh dear god no, he's hurt, come on we got to find him." John said as they went further out till they reached the river and Nan scanned the area, before seeing a body laying on the ground.

"Nat!" she screamed and the duo quickly ran over to him. "Nat, Nat come on mate wake up." Dan said as he untied his scarf and wrapped it around his ankle. As she looked at his clothes she saw they were soaked in water, looked at his cheek and then his knee and felt her fear shoot through her. "He got too close to the river bank and fell in, that water is freezing this time a year." she said and he looked at the scratches on his cheek.

"Not just falling in the river he was attacked by a wolf, we got to get him home. He's going into hypothermic shock and he needs medicine to prevent an infection." he said and she nodded as she shouted over her shoulder to their uncle."Uncle John we found him, over here." Nan called out to him and he ran over to them and crouched next to them with a worried look.

"Sprained ankle and he's bleeding..., he's burning up, alright we're taking him home, what you figure out you two." John asked as he carefully picked him up and carried him to the house. "He got bit by a wolf or just scratched by one, and slipped and fell into the river, and he got swept downstream, before he got a hold of that branch and yanked himself out of the river and collapsed on the riverbank Uncle John." he said to him.

"Fritz we found him, get him inside, he's frozen." he shouted and Fritz came charging out of the house as he took him and got him inside. "What they figure out here John?" he asked and John answered that with a grim look. "He was attacked by a wolf and has several bites and scratches on his leg and cheek, and sprained his ankle, when he got to close to the river bank and fell in, before yanking himself out of it and collapsed from exhaustion, he's half frozen, from both that and being in the woods for a week." he said and Fritz nodded with a concerned look as he carried him upstairs.

"Jo, sprained ankle, a cut that looks infected and and he's running a fever, but it's not Scarlett fever this time, they said he was attacked and scratched by a wolf, and landed in the river, before getting swept down stream and they found him lying on the riverbank fifty yards away from here." he said and she nodded as they quickly got him out of his clothes and him into bed as she got to work as she carefully removed his shoes.

"That's not a sprained ankle it's dislocated, he must have slipped in the fall caught a tree limb or something and it dislocated in the fall into the river, the rapids are stronger up river than they are down here, he's half frozen as well. Dear lord if this isn't a repeat of Amy nothing is right now and that was Walden pond this time it's a river seventy miles up stream and the water is freezing this time of year. Fritz stay in here, Hannah get ready ready we got to reset it." she said and they nodded as she looked at Dan and Nan.

"Honey wait in the hall, we'll call you when we're ready for you." she said and Dan nodded. "Yes mother." he said and they walked into the hall, as Jo pulled a medical bag out and looked through it, and pulled a syringe and a bottle out. "I'm giving him a dose of pain killer and then we're getting some fever reducer into him." she said and as they nodded as she injected him with the first, and then poured medicine down his throat.

After waiting for five minutes, she looked at them and nodded as Fritz held his leg still and she carefully reset it and then wrapped it to hold it still, as she looked at the cut she smiled in relief. "It's not infected, he's come down with a cold that's why his fevers pretty high, first one cold and now another." she said and she cleaned and wrapped the cut on his leg. "Dan, Nan you can come in now." she said and they walked back in.

"How bad is it Mama Bhear?" Nan asked her and she sighed. "His injuries are going to take a month to recover from, but his emotions, that's going to take even longer, at the moment the ones he needs most are us and Franz, we took the place of his family and you're his future girlfriend dear, he's going to be asleep for a while, so let's give him time to rest now." she said and they nodded as Jack and Tommy came running to the door.

"Danny if you want to play games with him, I've got a chess and checker set in the living room shelf and few others that the kids usually play, but card games other than poker are fine, but again gambling is not allowed in the house, understood." Fritz said to him and he nodded as he felt his determination go through. "Yes father, I understand, as I said living the life of a street urchin turns you into a man faster than you'd expect, I just never expected they'd leave a lit cigar lying on top of a set of clothes lying on the floor."

"That's what started the fire, and I found the cigar, before Mother found the bottle hanging out below the window, but I'm not taking chances anymore, not with Teddy and James in the house, I'm not losing you or mother, let alone my brothers this time around." he said and Fritz nodded to that as he answered his remark. Looking at the fourteen year old he could see the changes in him, and knew the younger man loved him and Jo, like they were his real parents then.

"That's one more reason why I said that is forbidden in the house, you never know whether something can cause a more serious problem than you'd expect and jumping to conclusions does as much damage as taking your anger out on others. While you boys grew up like we, that is your mother and I, did, your classmates grew up as social society children and with that fact in mind, it's hard to work together."

"Did Peter teach you how to deal with business, let alone reading and arithmetic?" he asked and he shook his head. "No father, though I learned how to bake and use an oven, let alone farming equipment and working with horses, I never went to school. Like you, father took discipline and kindness seriously, if there was a fight, he went for negotiations instead of violence." he said and he nodded to him as he answered that.

"That's the act of a true gentleman son, violence is a last resort, though the boys are from well to do families, the first thing we teach here is that violence is not allowed, honesty and kindness is the act of a true individual. You changed, because we were showing more of what you remember about your real parents. Alright you can help us out with certain situations, Charlie seems to like you, so I think he chose you as his owner, so he's your horse now."

"Just use what you learned so far to ensure that the boys are protected, next to Franz, you're the oldest of the boys and with that, you help him in maintaining order in the house." he said and Dan nodded. "What are you doing in here Jack?" he asked and crossed his arms. "We came to check on him." he said and Tommy looked at Jo. "How serious is this if he ran away, because this is not my fault." he added to him.

"Not your fault Jack, you insulted both of them out of anger, you stole the money, you let Nat take the fall for it, despite the fact you knew you were the one who did it, till Dan stood up for him and leave when he takes the rap for your sins and now we got to deal with the fall out, because you're too ignorant to admit that you're wrong that he's changed." Nan growled at him and Dan finished her sentence with an icy look.

"Jack you and Tom caused this, if you'd just let it go this wouldn't have happened, in fact I'm not the one who left a lit cigar on the floor, had that fire reached anything flammable, aside from your dressing gown or the curtains, or just hit the alcohol if it been under the bed that could have caused an explosion. First rule here to prevent a fire never drop these things on top of anything that is likely to catch fire."

"To put this bluntly, cigars need oxygen to continue breathing like any living being, you pound it against something and it gives off an acrid smell, so if that doesn't work go to step two and put it in water and that stuffs it out in minutes, because water ruins the leaves and materials in it. Cigars have a drug that give off an acrid odor that if Mother had picked up she would have realized that one of you was smoking in the bedroom."

"If you'd just given it to me, I would have stamped it out, before it did set the clothes on fire, or just put it in water to burn out the embers, I'm around adult men and gamblers all the time back in Boston, I watched what they did, I knew how to put these out and I learned skills that helped keep me going till I came here and I now have parents again, and you could have destroyed my home and family out of your idiocy of not giving it to me, before you did that." he said and Fritz hid a smile as Jo said it for him.

"Clever move Dan, putting it in the mug I wouldn't have seen it or smelled the odor to prevent that and you'd get minimum punishment and you dump it the following morning and as for the alcohol, dropping the evidence out the window and hiding the bottle in your nap sack would have prevented this from turning into what it did, before your father got back. As to that, you learned ingenuity from older and more wiser men than you, but you grew up faster than they did and learned streets smarts."

"The boys grew up in well to do families, you grew up like me, Nan and Fritz, you know how hard it is out there when mixing with people like your uncle it's hard to get along. Yet you know what's safe and what isn't especially when living in a house that is so close to a farm. Jonathan, Tommy, what he's saying if you hadn't been in a rush when I checked on you and slowed it down that fire and the burn blisters could have been prevented simply by thinking and looking before you leap." she said and Dan finished it.

"I didn't tell you to drop it on the clothes, nor did I force you to smoke it or start drinking. In fact you made the choices and did it yourselves, I'm not to blame here for your nearly getting yourselves kicked out of the house. In fact, I left it sitting on the table in front of you and you decided to try it, I didn't force you to start smoking or drink the beer, you did it of your own free will." he said and Jack's tone went furious.

"He's right about that too Jonathan, he didn't force you to do anything, at this age you make certain choices that shape who you're to become, this was a test like everything else you're going through. He's learned his lesson and decided to make it up to us simply by risking his own health to find Nat and Nat is going to be in bed for a month, because of this situation. You got to make this up to Nat now." Jo said to him sternly. "I didn't know this was going to result in him leaving!" he said and Dan crossed his arms.

"But you knew Dan was going to be blamed by Uncle Fritz, yet Nat is the one who gets burned by your decision, think it over, why did he choose to stay when you insulted Dan, why did he respond to Father when he left he respected my father and Uncle Laurie, mother gave him the comfort he needed like Aunt Jo did, he was gone and he was holding in eight months of emotional pain, because his mother is gone and now his father is dead. It doesn't matter who was wrong here the damage is done, and you just tore his emotional recovery to pieces out of anger and revenge." Daisy said sternly.

"Nat is the least likely to break the rules and we both grew up the way mother did, we had to put food on the table, we had lost several family members in five years, before we were barely Teddy's age, and your family is intact, Dan and Nat were orphans up until now. No matter how you rationalize this situation the blame is being put on you, if you'd just let it go he wouldn't be in emotional turmoil right now, because his friends, meaning us, turned on him, again." Demi snapped at him as he finished her sentence.

"Hey you're the one who's the troublemaker Dan." he growled and Nan snapped at him at that, before she could Dan snapped him firmly. "I didn't frame him for stealing, so he lied once or twice, that's not an excuse to screw with his track record, so I broke the rules once or twice, that's not an excuse to hold a grudge. I changed and you can't or won't let that go, so just who fault is this Jack. He's sick, he's hurt, physically and emotionally, so sum it up, what caused this in the first place, cause Nan and I talked it over and she saw you go into the barn. This all started, because of one thing."

"That one thing is because you made the choice to break the rules and you nearly burned down the house, by leaving a lit cigar lying on the floor in a pile of clothes, when extinguishing it could have meant using a set of shoes or putting it in a mug of water. With embers all over the floor from pounding it against your bedside stand Tom."

"But no, you slammed it against the corner of the bedside table and dropped it in the dressing gown, keeping it warm and giving it ventilation and oxygen, because it was breathing in the oxygen from the clothes till it sets the gown on fire, so don't blame me for this you did it to yourself." he said coldly and she finished his remark.

"Enough Jack, he's right, you made the choices, by your hand you nearly got yourselves thrown out of the house, don't blame him for that, he tempted you and you followed his lead like a sheep. You, Tommy and Emil followed his lead and decided to try it for yourselves, as did Nat and yet they didn't kick you out of the house, because the punishment was suffering your own guilt, while Tommy has to live with the scars."

"But this all goes back to one thing, and that is you chose to follow his lead, you smoked the cigar, you drank the beer, you left a lit cigar lying on a set of clothes giving it a time smolder till it catches fire. That's not his fault, you make the choices, you suffer the consequences, and instead of just accepting it as part of life, you try to frame him and it backfires and this is the result." she said and sat down in Fritz's lap as he stepped in.

"Alright all of you that's enough. Jonathan, she's correct, you didn't have to follow his lead, but you did, like every situation he dealt with since coming to Plumfield, you broke the rules and you get punished. Don't blame Dan for your punishments, he accepted his and spent a week at Mr. Paige's and then returned to his home, because his brother was here and they all share the same background young man."

"They aren't your class it's true, but they treat others with kindness and they don't frame others for a misdemeanor over some minor mistake. And yet when you could have given forgiveness you didn't and try to get him in trouble for something he no longer did and it results in backfiring and taking us a week to find Nat, I'm very disappointed in your lack of compassion right now." Fritz said to him sternly and Tommy looked at Jo.

"She growing attached?" Laurie asked him with an amused look as he saw Nan sitting in his lap and he chuckled. "Yes, surrogate father maybe, but it helps that she's got us acting like parents as for Nat he's got us taking care of him and his brother." he said and sighed. "He's going to be in bed for three weeks and hopefully we can prevent any more problems, but who he needs most are Jo and me right now." he said and Laurie nodded.

"How is he Mama Bhear?" Tommy asked and she looked at him sternly, "At the moment he's going to need to be around the duo, Papa Bhear and me young man, this is going to take even longer to heal from then when he arrived Thomas. I've gone over jumping to conclusions with you more than once and you still act like you've learned nothing at all."

"So they're different from you, that doesn't give you the right to jump to conclusions boys, The Brooke's, Demi and Daisey's parents, and I are from a lower middle class ranking as is Father Bhear, we didn't have massive amounts of money growing up. Meg and I had to get jobs from the time we were seventeen, I was working as a companion for my great aunt, my sister as a teacher, my baby sister is artist and yet as adults we all flourished and John decided to change their lives by giving them a chance to start over."

"Which is how Laurie came into our lives, he was from your class, but he chose to mix with us as a friend and brother and married my sister when she was twenty four. That is what and where things shifted, he's a philanthropist and helps people, John is the same way. They don't look at the amount of money you have but the kindness and carrying in a person's soul, John saw massive potential in Nat and gave him an alternative to living on the streets and decided I should act as the mother bear to him."

"John was funding Nat's tuition and he fitted in nicely, though he's from childhood background similar to mine, and yet you snubbed him by making it seem like he broke your eggs, when they were playing, what really happened Jonathan, you were involved in the sword fight, so what really happened that day?" she asked and Jack sighed as he answered her. "The swing went wide and he slipped because of the moisture on the porch and slammed into him just as he was walking up the stairs to go into the house."

"But he dropped the basket, if he'd backed up just as I was swinging that could have been prevented by protecting the eggs simply by staying out of range Mama Bhear. Over reaction, and he felt guilty then, but this time it's thanks to an accusation of stealing." he said and Dan looked at her. "I thought he didn't need me any more mother but that explains the look on his face when he was in the barn. And if you'd bothered to ask, before jumping to conclusions Tom, this wouldn't have happens boys." he growled.

"He ran into me." Tommy said and Emil answered that. "You could have stepped back before he lost his balance Bangs or just stopped as he lost his grip on his sword, but no, you kept moving up the stairs and put yourself directly in his blindspot, so the fault and blame is on you. And while we're on the subject here, you could have given him fifteen minutes and then ask what was wrong and slowed it down, but again you didn't."

"Now that I look at his track record now, I see the ones in the wrong here is you and Jack, Nat was in emotional turmoil, he was beginning to heal from the death of his father, you snubbed him once and he's ordered to use the nutcracker on Papa Bhear, and then two months later just when he's adjusting to being here and fitting in with us, and we see him as an equal you snub him again, and without even considering we had a former street urchin living in this house you point the finger at Nat and that results in nearly killing him yourself, he's come down with a cold and is nearly killed by a wolf and drowning, this is your doing you two, yours and yours alone."

"Enough of the street urchin, gutter rat trash remarks Jack, Nan is right, we didn't have to follow his lead, but we did, we smoked the cigar, we drank the beer, we set the room on fire, the blame is on us. Nat was the moral compass he tried to head it off but we acted like sheep, the blame is on us, and us alone. Take the punishment like a man, we made the mistake, we pay the consequences, our punishment is the guilt of the near destruction of our second home now and for Tommy the burn blisters on his arm."

"The only ones to blame for this and while I'm at it, where the boxing is concerned, and the sticking knives fiasco is us, we follow and act like sheep, we make the mistakes, we pay the consequences, the blame is on us and on us alone. So don't blame Dan for his shortcomings we made the mistakes and Nat is the one who gets burned by them, enough already." Emil said firmly and he sighed as Jo finished his sentence.

"As Papa Bhear has decided you've lost your egg selling business till such time as you earned it back, Nan and Dan are running their own and their sharing profits together and Dan is helping Hannah and myself in the kitchen with baking right now. You and Jonathan are sharing a room on the second floor and you're doing your studies together from now on, go join the boys and Daisy, we're having a sit down talk about this over supper." she said and they nodded and left the room.

"Father." They heard and Fritz turned his attention to Nat. "Shh, it's alright son, I'm here." he said softly and gently stroked a hand through his hair and he relaxed as he burrowed into the blankets. "Don't worry brother it's going to be alright." Dan said to him gently. "Mother, I think it would be best that in between classes and chores Nan and I can split the shifts in sitting with him while he's resting."

"When he's recovered, the three of us can share in the egg selling business, baking and working as a trio in areas that you need us most, including Teddy and James." he said and she smiled. "That would help dear, with the harvest done with, we can sell our crops now and you can use what you learned from Peter and help me with the baking, while I teach you how to cook." she said and he smiled as he answered her.

"Was Hannah your housekeeper, when you were young?" he asked and she smiled. "Yes, she served my family since my sister, your Aunt Meg, was born. With your grandparents gone now, she decided to she was living with us, while father and Marmee gave our family home to the Brooke's, and Amy married Laurie. Again, after this is over we're having a sit down talk after dinner all of you."

"Round up the boys afterwards, if you six are choosing sides, who do you choose here?" she asked and Emil said it for all of them. "We're not listening to Jack and Tommy anymore, we're siding with Dan and Nat, the girls need us as brothers, and the lines are no longer one track or another, enough is enough, we split the bill, we share in everything now." he said and she nodded to that as Fritz answered him.

"Alright with twelve boys in this house and two girls, you four are the trio's new gang and study group, you share the chores and added activities together once he's recovered, just set aside anything else that could damage a bond here. Danny, if you're using that knife keep it out of reach of your brother and once things have settled our family, both real and surrogate is working and maintaining their bonds here, understood." he said and they all nodded as Nan turned to Dan.

"I'll take the first shift Dan." she said and he nodded to that. "If I got number two I'm making some bread so he's got something to eat if he wakes up, he needs soup and something not to heavy in food, or he's going to get violently sick and that's the other reason I got the bread when I pickpocketed that man, nothing too strong or heavily seasoned or he could have lost control of his stomach if he ate too much of it." he said and she nodded to that.

"Alright, grab a batch of eggs and you can help me in the kitchen, and make dinner, Daisy, you and Demi deal with setting up a new score of chores for our troublemakers and you six are running the household with Franz." Jo said and they nodded as Nan settled as Fritz got up and went downstairs to write up a message to Tommy's father so he could get that set up for a second meeting then.


	4. Chapter 4: Truths And Judgements

**Misjudged Crimes**

**Characters: Nat, Dan, Jo, Fritz and Tommy**

**Time-line: After they get the letter of confession from Jack.**

**Summary: What if Nat had a stronger reaction to being accused of stealing when the truth came out after Dan got his anger out of him and ran away, will they be able to find him or will he come back on his own.**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Little Men, the story belonge to me, everything else belonge to Louisa May Alcott.**

**Warning: I'm basing this story off what happened at the point they got the truth in the movie, and making his reaction stronger than his just forgiving them for accusing him of theft, so this is going to show the parts of his personality that were hidden away after the argument with Dan and being accused yet again of something he wouldn't do, while Dan's personality has taken on the older brother edge and Nan has unofficially become his girlfriend.**

**Also this shows how he saw Jo and Fritz and what he was too afraid to say, and their decision to keep them both as adoptive sons before the holidays came and her brother-in-law died, so this is going to show what happened between those points and how the boys had found a new home from that point.**

**Chapter 4: The Truth Comes Out**

Looking at Dan, Laurie decided to ask it for Fritz. "Danny, can you tell me exactly what happened in the bedroom that night, if he was furious enough to frame you again, it seems to me there's more than meets the eye here if he's this determined to frame you for breaking rules and you had to get your anger out of you by using Charlie to do it?" Laurie asked him and he nodded as he answered him gently.

"Well for starters, the reason I was furious was because he gave this smirk to Emil when Tommy put the blame on Nat. Secondly I know Nat in a way you don't and he'd never steal anything, we grew up in a different way if it was a gentle white lie father, or Papa Blake, were able to take it without getting too critical, though we got a week of added chores for lying to them. Nan said he insulted me and Nat lost his temper when you got the telegram I ran away and he was furious I was being missed."

"I mean I broke the rules here and there, but I'd never steal from a fellow classmate, nor would I have ever expected that he'd allow Tommy to put the blame on an innocent person, said innocent person who, during the fire escapade, tried to forestall the duo that nearly got the trio evicted from the grounds and expelled from this school. An innocent who's lost his entire family, had a chance to heal and his progress has been torn to pieces by another young man hell bent, excuse me, on not accepting I've changed when ninety percent of the people living on the property can see I can and I did."

"Emil care to quote the remarks you made when you thought he did it?" he asked and Emil crossed his arms. "Jack's exact words after I remarked he was guilty, was a smirk on his face as he looked at Dan as he said it, but his exact words were 'what do you expect from a street urchin, it's the way they live.' Had I been paying closer attention to why he was looking at Dan like that I would have realized who the thief was and told you Papa. Nat is not a thief or a troublemaker, out of us he's so much like you Uncle Laurie."

"That he'd make a good businessman when he older, but altogether the only guilty ones in this were us, we broke the rules and Jack was try to cover up his wrongdoings by framing Dan, just to get him out of the house, before he told you the truth here, said truth is we were never forced to do anything. Jack tell him the truth, you caused this tell them now." Emil said to him and he looked at him in shock at the remarks.

"Yes Jack, tell them the truth, who here is in the wrong and caused this, because I for one would like a chance to clear both myself and Nat right now for this mistake that night, when I saved your life by preventing the fire from spreading that night. Because I'm not the one who set the room on fire, nor did I force you to start drinking or smoking you did that on your own, when I wanted to play, it was just with Nat, you chose to do that too." Dan growled sternly and Fritz, John and Laurie crossed their arms.

"He's right, we chose on our own and I'm admitting that right now, Jack tell him the truth, it's not Dan's fault, but ours, face up to it now and tell them. In fact, Papa, mama, I did that on my own, he never forced me I made the choice I take the consequences now. In fact, while we were talking the only thing I decided on was I wasn't letting this get between our friendship at the time, as did Tommy, till Tommy put the blame and Nat." Emil said and Fritz nodded as he turned to Jack and Tommy with a stern look.

"Care to tell us what he's talking about young man, because it's the only shot you have of making sure you're not expelled from this school now, you better tell me the truth right now, or you're getting expelled from this school and I mean that, if Dan is the innocent one I want to know now." Fritz said sternly to him and he swallowed at that.

"Why should I say it, it's his fault we got in trouble Papa Bhear. I had no idea what was going to happen it's his fault, all of this was his fault." Jack said quickly and Nan crossed her arms. "Well I'd rather hear this situation from his own interpretations Jack, I want to know why you decided to frame him for a simple mistake, because from the way he says it you followed him blindly, and from the panic in your voice you know what's going to happen when he tells them the truth, because he told me everything."

"I'm more like him and Nat than you think, I share both sides of them, I play baseball, I act like a boy at times, and that's what Nat loves about me, my free spirit, he's my everything, my entire world, we all share the same pains in parents and we found a father and family in Papa and Mother Bhear. Dan go ahead brother, you tell us your side of the story now. I want to hear the truth of what really happened, before I arrived." she said and he nodded as he smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

"Stay out of this Nan, you're in love with a troublemaker." Jack growled as he raised his hand at her and Laurie caught him by the arm. "Touch her and you're facing being expelled now young man, a gentleman never strikes a lady. She's everything I remember in Jo when we were kids, she's a free spirit. Here's your first lesson on being man: you treat women with a gentle hand, you don't raise your voice and you never strike a lady."

"Dan gave you several lessons men live from now: our first job, if we start a family or am the oldest child, is preventing anything from making it worse, by being honest, showing compassion to all of those in a lower station than you are. We want to break the rules we accept the consequences. When my Amy was your age she nearly drowned at Walden pond and I risked drowning myself, because it was thin ice, to save her."

"To get my family back together, I went to bring her home after our great aunt passed away, Nan is Jo and Amy rolled into one. She sees Dan like a brother, because in actual fact, she sees her father in him, and that is life lesson number two now. A woman searches out the man that is most like her father. He's me and she is Jo, while she sees both Jack and her father inside of Nat, her heart says she found a correct match now."

" And with that, You want the parents of a girl to accept you, never get aggressive or raise a hand to their daughter when you're courting her, or you're getting not only his wrath, but her adoptive brothers wrath when they find out you abused her in such a way, understood. Lying, gambling, drinking, swearing, stealing are very serious charges here, but you touch a woman or raise your hand to touch her and that cements our decision where the administration of our school is concerned." Laurie said to him sternly.

"Had you touched her at all and I would have Jack, that's my first rule now, the girls are my primary concern. As to why, we understand each other better than you think, you're the troublemaker, I made a mistake it's true, but I made up for that, by making sure the fire never got out of the bedroom, you and Tommy though, you make the mistakes and you're paying the consequences as of now here." Dan said to him and he looked at him.

"You're the troublemaker Kean." he growled and Dan crossed his arms. "So nothing changes in your eyes, to you I'm nothing but a street urchin. Well it's turn about is fair play now, you're a student going to school here, this is my family and house, you're following my rules as of now. Anything that Papa has forbidden is getting you put in isolation for six months, your chores are doubled and you, if you recall your page in mother's book, you're spending time fixing that flaw till such time as you see me and Nat for who we are than what you see us as, because I'm back to being my baker self."

"I'm a baker, I'm a horse groom, Nan, Nat and I are getting ready to run our own business together, but you lost yours because of this. Till such time as you make it up to us, your trade is suspended till further notice." he said and Jack looked at him in shock. "In fact, Danny, you, Franz, Demi and Emil, are acting on our behalf in the school, you're my son and they're your cousins. You make the rules now where the rest of the group is concerned." he said and Dan nodded to that as he looked at Emil who nodded.

"Than my first rule here you treat the girls with respect, secondly the discrimination is ending right now and thirdly, Emil, Demi, Nat and I are in charge as of now Jack, till such time as you see me and Nat for who we are instead of who we used to be, your trade is suspended till further notice, Tom the same goes for you." he said sternly to him.

"You can't do that." he said and Emil answered that. "Actually we can Jack, I'm Papa's nephew and my other cousin is the oldest of the boys, while Demi is my cousin on Mama Bhear's side of the family, but we're the ones running the household now, so the three of us can do that, and as for your behavior, there's no changing the fact your choices caused this." he said and Dan finished his sentence sternly.

"As the eldest of us boys younger than seventeen, I'm taking charge right now. You yourself broke the rules and yet you can't accept that I changed and I risk my own health, my recovery, by going after my brother. Nan turned to me, because I'm her brother-in-law now, and to us, you're acting like the man who landed Nat in here, he jumped to conclusions without thinking twice, because he's an adult version of you."

"I'd say you're scared of what this is going to turn into if you're determined to prevent the truth from getting out Jack. Why is that exactly, your father is a banker, but a humanitarian, he sees kids like me worth helping, I used to be like you and yet I didn't grow up in the way you did, and you treat me like trash, simply, because you got yourself in trouble with the headmasters, who are now my adoptive parents."

"My parents are the owners of this school I'm following their rules from this day forward, so tell me what does this say now, who's got more authority here, and while we're on the subject, who's going to see me as they should, without the cruelty of persecution. You recall the hymn, Amazing Grace, that sums up my journey nicely, they saved me from turning into a criminal simply by giving me a chance to change who I was."

"I changed and turned back into my ten year old self, the young man who followed the rules laid down to me by my father, a man who was, in everyway, just like Papa Bhear. I've been adopted by a man who is an exact match to my biological father, and a woman who is just like my mother, my parents reincarnated as Papa and Mama Bhear. Well you're facing his wrath in the true story, you all kept your mouths shut after what happened that night, and it's time for the truth to come out now."

"Emil you want to go ahead, you're taking my side in this, and we're a newly created gang and friends for life?" Dan asked him and he nodded in agreement to that as he crossed his arms with a dangerous smirk on his face as he looked at Jack. "Sure, Papa Bhear like with the knife and the boxing, we decided to go with it on our own, it was of our own accord I drank the beer, Tommy was smoking and he did both while swearing at the same time, Nat's the only innocent one of our quartet here."

"He's right about that as well Papa, Dan didn't force us to do anything, we did it of our own free will that night. Nat decided though he was playing the game he wasn't getting involved in the other two or three, so we tried both, we also left the window open, which explains why Silas saw the smoke last month, we weren't risking stinking up the bedroom with cigar smoke and left the window open. We're lucky we did that otherwise smoke inhalation could have killed us." he said and the adults all nodded to that.

"Emil, Demi you mind about being friends though we had trouble before?" Dan asked and they smiled. " Not at all, if it's the six of us he's got friends for life and we don't care if you were poor or not, we see you as an equal, our brother, we're family now and we take care of each other." Emil said and he nodded as he exchanged smiles with Nan who gave him a hug at that as Fritz hid a smile as he answered the duo gently.

"Thank you for being honest with me now son, you're going to help Dan with Charlie, that's your new chore here in addition to your trade, you can learn to be a horse groom now, okay?" he asked and Emil nodded with a smile as he looked at Dan. "Okay Danny your turn, what happened exactly that night, before the fire?" Fritz asked him and he got started on that, not minding at their now frequent use of his nickname as he had parents and aunts and uncles again as he looked at his parents and uncles then gently.

"I had about ten dollars in coins in the bag I snagged off that man, and if you can find him, I'm giving it back to him, with the money I owe him now, he owes Nat a new violin though, because the old one belonged to Papa Blake, using yours was enough to encourage him to keep playing, but that horse destroyed a family heirloom papa, it's been in his family for eighty years, passed from one generation to the next." he said and Fritz nodded as he thought it over.

"Yes alright keep going Danny, Jack claims you were the one to force them to try it, what's your interpretation to it now. Though with what Emil just told us that's not the case anymore, so what's you're interpretation, after your argument earlier?" he asked and Dan sighed. "Being a street urchin and living and trying wean yourself off old habits is very hard father, I wanted one last shot to play, before I let that go, and paid for a piece of each thing that Mother found hidden in the room and under the window."

"I figured, if we were careful, we could play a round or two poker, but with the boys it shifted directions, I was talking to Nat, but they, once they heard us say we were playing, they immediately wanted to try it. Nat said you forbidden having games that involved gambling in the house, but at the time I figured you wouldn't know, before you told me that your job as headmaster involved you knowing everything we do father."

"I learned enough to cover our tracks, and Nat, once he saw the contraband, immediately tried to shut it down, before Hannah or Franz walked in on us. The boys once they saw me try the cigar and beer, they decided to try it for themselves, and this resulted in breaking a third rule, no profanity in the house, when Jack imitated me by swearing in front of us, before the game could even start I heard someone in the hall."

"And I ordered the quartet back into bed, and dumped the bottle out the window, and Tommy pounded the cigar against the bedside stand, and I knew you were to pick up the scent when he did that, I couldn't see where he dropped it either, because the lamps weren't on, but as we slept the cigar sat there inhaling the oxygen from the clothes gathering its power till it caught fire, till it set the blanket on fire and the curtains."

"Before Silas called out to you mother that there was a fire in the house and hearing that I woke up immediately, saw the flames climbing the curtains and yanked them down, before they could set something else on fire. When Tommy's arm was set on fire, while Silas dealing with him, I put out the flames as they left the room. All in all, the one to blame here for the fire was Tommy that night, but that's what happened."

"Living at a farmhouse and working in a bakery I knew what needed to be done to put it out. I admit, letting the boys get involved was a mistake I regret now, as was the smoking and I accept your sending me to Mr. Paige now, but this will never happen again I swear it. This is never happening again and I'm enforcing your rules, as of now father." he said and they nodded as Jo answered him, seeing in him what she saw that night.

"Mother there was one more thing, I found the cigar in the clothes and when I put the fire out I also checked out the side of the bedside stand and found burn marks all over it. If you'd given me a few minutes that morning when you reprimanded us, I would have told you then. To prevent Tommy from cutting himself I stopped the knife contest, the boxing was a mistake I regret, because I froze when Silas called out and he hit me, which explains the bloody nose, and as for the magic tricks, I did that with Jamie when they took me in, so I could entertain them, but that sums it up." he said to her gently.

"Though I knew that was forbidden it's pieces of my life I had a very hard time letting go, being from a less than fortunate background we had to live on our own wits, Nat was a street musician as he told you, but he was really saying that we did that to put food on the table, because Papa Blake made no more than you did mother when you were seventeen." he said and the sextet nodded to that information as she answered him.

"Young man I understand it's not easy changing from an old to a new lifestyle, but that is everything we need to know here. So despite the fact you broke the rules you try to fix the problem they created and in some cases deal with it, before it gets worse. Alright that I understand here. Amy and I had problems when we were little, but I fixed that problem you are an exact match to us when we were your age."

"Alright, so they broke the rules themselves, you didn't tempt or force them, they did it of their own accord. You, growing up with street smarts knew to cover your tracks, fast thinking, and damage control, and the one who nearly burns the house to the ground is Tommy, you put the fire he started out and he winds up with the burn blisters for life, out of his stupidity. While the duo did the same thing, drinking is dangerous no matter how old you are, even a small amount obscures your functions, had it not been for Dan you would have been burned to death, because you were sleeping off the alcohol."

"Whatever profanity you used in the room is not allowed either, and with that, the judgement has been passed now. You chose to come clean Emil and thank you for telling us this now. Dan you've made me proud of admitting the true story of this, honesty is the act of a true gentleman, your punishment is a weeks worth of chores Emil, and you can work with Demi when doing that and you're helping Dan with Charlie as well." Jo said and he nodded as he moved to stand next to the twins, Dan and Nan as Daisy wrapped her arm around his shoulders and he smiled as Dan looked at his eyes he saw the smitten smile as he chuckled as he looked at him.

"You too Emil?" he asked him and he nodded. "Yes, whatever is happening to me, it's always when she's around me, I guess I'm trying to show off to her, I like her." he said and she smiled. "You're who I choose Emil, you're everything I want now." she said smiling and he swung her around and the adults chuckled. "Dear time to make this school co education, the children deserve to be mixed now, Nan with Nat, Daisy with Emil, and I'm sure you're you're finding yours when you're ready Daniel." Amy said and he nodded in agreement as Fritz changed subjects with an amused look.

"Yes okay so that explains everything we need to know son, thank you for telling us this. Jonathan, as I said your mistakes are yours alone, he never forced you to smoke, start gambling or drink the alcohol, you did it of your own accord, that throws out your argument as of now. And yet you try to frame him for stealing and it backfires, if Mother Bhear and I were really your parents, we'd be very disappointed in you right now." he said, and before Jack could answer another voice answered that remark.

"You have no idea how disappointed we are Fritz, Jonathan when we gave you those lessons, I also said that any type of rule breaking was getting you in serious trouble, smoking, swearing, gambling, stealing, lying. That's five in a month and then you admit to the damage when Daniel lies to stand up for Nathaniel and leave, right after he runs away, it's too late for excuses, you're staying here in I.S.S. till you make this up to him."

"And it seems to me, he didn't force you to do anything, you made the choices, so you suffer the consequences as of now. Fritz I'm paying back the damage he did to the boys bedroom, but it's best to put the boys in different rooms, or just act as room mates, so Dan and Nat in one, my son and Thomas in another, Emil and and the other boys their own age in two others and the girls together as well." Mary said to him and he nodded.

"We had the quintet sharing that room Mary, at the time, so I'm putting my sons in one room, Emil with Demi, my nephew, in the room next door to theirs, and the duo in the in school isolation room and that's on the third floor, but we've twelve boys in this house and two are toddlers and up to preschool ages, while my oldest is fifteen years old. So, with that in mind, Jonathan you and Thomas are sharing a room."

"Emil, you're bunked with Demi, Danny you're with Nat when he's fully recovered. You're room-mates, but you can mingle with each other, but I hear any more trouble coming out of any of your rooms and you really will be sent home, and I mean that you two, understand." Fritz said to the troublemaker duo and they both nodded to him as Jack's parents looked the Bhear's and Laurie to make a recommendation then.

"Okay, John, we and Laurie are reorganizing for a few things here on the property, but whatever you choose is up to you, and we're all doubling our cost for tuitions as well so that keeps you running till he heals the damage they did to Natheniel." Jack's father said and they nodded in agreement to that decision then.


End file.
